“I’ve had a strong response and support in the Chicago area,” said Steans. “I will continue to work with like-minded advocates to advance the bill and am looking for as much help as possible in every area of the state.”

The bill is the first of its kind in the Illinois Senate, but succeeds a civil unions bill introduced in the Illinois House of Representatives in February by Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago). Harris also introduced an equal marriage bill, but it failed to move beyond the committee.

Supporters of the new bill hope to reignite the debate around same-sex marriage in Illinois now that the civil unions bill has stalled, after squeaking through the House Youth and Family Committee on a 4-3 vote in May.

While public opinion varies, activists are charged up on both sides of the issue.

“We’re trying to educate people about the harm that this bill will do to religious freedoms and First Amendment rights,” said David Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, a religious organization that opposes same-sex marriage.

“There is a reason why the state recognizes natural marriage. It encourages it because it benefits the state,” Smith said. “It provides the ideal environment to raise children. What does gay marriage do? Nothing. It doesn’t benefit the state one iota.”

As religious institutions lobby against these bills, activists in the gay community are fighting for more than just marriage.

“If it doesn’t happen right now I know that Illinois, like the country, will one day have it,” he said. “I think the most important thing is to send a message to the legislature that Illinois wants this.”

Smith said the bill would not become law.

“It’s going nowhere fast,” he said. “It does not have the traction, despite the fact that the Democrats have a super-majority in the House and a majority in the Senate.”

For the last six years, the Illinois Family Institute has unsuccessfully lobbied to amend the state constitution to permanently ban same-sex marriage.